If there is one thing that America loves to see, it’s celebrities doing things that the “normal” person does. The popularity of Twitter can prove my point. Most are drawn to it because it is almost a celebrity playground, where famous people can communicate their thoughts directly to their fans and their peers.

When a celebrity starts doing something that seems very normal, that seems reachable, and that seems that it does good, then it goes viral.

Thus is the story of the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge. The challenge, which was invented in part by Corey Griffin, was thrust into the halls of internet popularity after his untimely death (the challenge had been steadily rising in it’s fame right since July 15th, when Matt Lauer did the challenge on The Today Show).

Soon the challenge was the number one trending hashtag on Twitter after Pete Frates, a former athlete with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, did the challenge. This inspired various others to take the challenge, or be challenged, from the moguls of silicon valley to the former presidents of the United States. Hollywood stars did it, your local business owners did it, and yes, even your family and close friends did it and challenged you to do it.

The challenge itself is a huge success for the ALS Association and for the cause they fight for. In just a few weeks, the challenge had been taken up by 1.2 million on Facebook, and had generated about 13 million dollars, as of August 18, according to this New York Times article. That number has risen since then.

While we can, and should, be happy for this success, the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge goes to show you the state that our country is in when it comes to helping others. ALS was first written about in 1869 by Dr. Jean Martin Charcot. That’s 145 years ago. And while yes, hall of fame baseball player Lou Gherig’s diagnosis of him having ALS did succeed in raising awareness for a short time, the disease soon fell out of people’s minds. Even when Mr. Frates was diagnosed with it, it didn’t garner this much attention. The point is, America needed the founder of the challenge to die, a news anchor to take the challenge, and then dozens of celebrities to do the challenge for it to wake up to the reality that ALS research is a good cause to donate to.

The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge is a great way to raise awareness for ALS, and to get people to donate. And it has worked. And that is a very good thing. However, analyzing how America responded to the challenge shows you that if you ever want to get any person to help another one in need, you’re going to need to have quite a few celebrities do it first, because unless someone famous tells the population that it’s good to help others, not many will.